Executive Committee

Term Ending in 2015

Bellandra Foster BS Civil & Environmental Engineering 1983, PhD 1999

Bellandra Foster is president and principal engineer of BBF Engineering Services, PC, specializing in road- and bridge-related construction engineering, traffic and transportation engineering, utility and permit coordination and project management. BBF was profiled in Black Enterprise magazine and in Essence magazine and has been highlighted in Michigan Contractor and Builder magazine, Jet magazine and the Detroit Free Press. Dr. Foster has delivered commencement addresses at the engineering schools of the University of Notre Dame and Wayne State University. She has also authored a book titled, "For Love and Money: Seven Guidelines for Achieving Success in Your Home and Business."

Phil Fioravante Applied Engineering Sciences 1984

Phil Fioravante is currently employed by Walsh College (Troy, MI) as an Associate Professor - Marketing as well as an Operating Executive at Industrial Opportunity Partners, a private equity firm with specialization in industrial manufacturing and distribution companies. In addition, he is the Senior Managing Partner at both Strategy Development Group, LLC (a business advisory firm) and GreenRock Capital (a private equity micro-fund). He is currently an active member in SAE, a Fellow at the Chartered Institute - Marketing (London, UK) and also sits on several privately-owned company Board of Directors. Dr. Fioravante received his Ph.D from Capella University.

Term Ending in 2016

Martha Gray, PhD, Director of the Madrid-MIT M+Vision Consortium has led a multifaceted career in which she has conducted research to better understand and prevent osteoarthritis, led a preeminent academic unit, and served the profession through work with organizations and institutions. Her research has centered over the past 15 years on ways to nondestructively visualize cartilage macromolecules in vivo and in vitro. Many in industry and academia are now using the MR method developed by her group, known as dGEMRIC.

Dr. Gray is the J.W. Kieckhefer Professor and former director of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST). During and since her 13 year tenure as head of HST, she shepherded its vigorous growth so that now it boasts a community of over 400 students, 65 faculty and nearly 200 affiliated faculty who create a multi- disciplinary and multi-professional environment in classrooms, hospitals and laboratories and seek to advance human health. Most recently her efforts have focused on advising other institutions and governments as they pursue similar efforts.

Dr. Gray was the first woman to lead a science or engineering department at MIT. She is an elected fellow of the AAAS, the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers (AIMBE). Sheis associate editor of the Annual Reviews of Biomedical Engineering.

Her training includes a BS in computer sciences from Michigan State University, an MS in electrical engineering from MIT and a PhD in medical engineering from HST, and completed her postdoctoral work at Tufts University and the State University of New York Stony Brook.

Steven R. Klemm, Chemical Engineering 1979

Technical executive with 30 years of experience developing and commercializing innovative controlled release, combination product and process technologies. Managed the successful development and start up of more than 1,000 new products in 7 countries using innovative new technology options and developing strong management teams. With 7 patents issued and 9 pending, these technologies have provided sustainable competitive advantages and created successful new business opportunities in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and consumer product areas. These programs involved creating low capital virtual organizations for start up firms as well as complex development and supply agreements with Fortune 500 companies.

Headquartered in Plymouth, Michigan, with offices located throughout the U.S. including Detroit, Dearborn, Plymouth, Indian River, Ohio, Arizona, and California. International offices located in Germany, France, China, Korea, Japan, India and Brazil to support our international equipment sales and support and execution of both Vehicle and Laboratory testing services.

Link Test Systems are utilized in a wide array of industries including automotive, aerospace, railway, electric motor, and others. Link systems are a recognized worldwide standard for a variety of international test procedures as well as reproducing actual in-service conditions. Link is continually involved with the latest technologies to more closely replicate in-service conditions and monitor test results.

Link systems and testing services are utilized by the principal OEM vehicle manufacturers throughout the world and by their supply base.

Patrick MillerBS Math 1957, MS 1960 and PhD Mechanics 1966

Dr. Patrick M. Miller, President MGA Research Corporation Education: BS (’57), MS (’60) and PhD (’66) all from Michigan State University

After receiving the PhD, Patrick worked at Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory (now Calspan Corporation) in Buffalo, New York. There he was responsible for basic research related to crashworthiness of automotive structures. Much of this work was widely recognized as a result of an article on Automobile Structural Crashworthiness that he published in the February 1973 issue of the Scientific American. Today, structural crashworthiness design is fundamental to the development of all motor vehicles.

In 1977, he, with two other engineers, founded MGA Research Corporation. From an initial capital investment of $1000, this company has grown to be the premier North American automotive safety testing organization. Testing facilities are located in seven states and Canada. Although well past normal retirement age, he continues to lead the company. His greatest satisfaction, as a result of establishing the company, is the opportunity to work with young people as they begin their pursuit of a successful career.

Having received three degrees and the Distinguished Alumni Award from MSU, he will always believe the best thing that happened to him there was meeting and falling in love with his wife, Dee. These two Spartans have a family of 4 children, 9 grandchildren, and 5 great-grandchildren. For almost 60 years, they have always supported each other in their pursuit of successful, professional careers.

Asif NaseemMS & Ph.D. Electrical Engineering 1980, 1984

Dr. Asif Naseem currently serves as the Executive Operating Partner at Mason Wells, a Private Equity firm. Dr. Naseem most recently served as Vice President, Communications Global Business Unit at Oracle. Prior to that, he was President and Chief Operating Officer of GoAhead Software, a telecommunications software platform company that was recently acquired by Oracle Corporation. ?Dr. Naseem’s prior experience includes executive management roles at AT&T, Motorola and Iospan Wireless. In addition to operational experience, Dr. Naseem has successfully led several M&A activities nationally and internationally.? Within the Mason Wells portfolio of companies, Dr. Naseem is focusing on optimizing technological resources and aligning human resources to create more customer value, and strengthen the competitive position of each business. Dr. Naseem is an Adjunct Professor of ECE, Michigan State University. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Dedicated Computing, Inc., a Mason Wells portfolio company.

Term Ending in 2017

Pandeli "Lee" Durbetaki received a B.S.M.E. from Robert College Engineering School, Istanbul, Turkey in 1951, his M.S.(ME) from the University of Rochester in 1954 and his Ph.D.(ME) from Michigan State University in 1964. He served on the faculty of both the University of Rochester (1954 1960) and Michigan State University (1960 1964) before joining the faculty at Georgia Institute of Technology. He is currently Professor Emeritus in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech.

Professor Durbetaki has taught courses both at the graduate and the undergraduate level. These courses ranged from the basic subjects of thermodynamics (classical, statistical and irreversible) and transport phenomena to combustion, internal combustion engines, jet engines, rockets and experimental engineering. Professor Durbetaki has conducted research primarily in the fields of stratified charge operation of spark ignition engines, irreversible thermodynamics, combustion and homogeneous and heterogeneous ignition of fuels. He has consulted on problems related to the flammability of carpets, injury from tar explosion, fire hazard criteria for noise control products in underground coal mines, manufacture of roofing material and design and testing of traction type transmission.

As research and faculty advisor he has directed the research of fifty four M.S. and Ph.D. students. He has authored and co authored more than one-hundred journal publications, conference papers and research reports. Dr. Durbetaki was a member of the team at Georgia Tech that engineered the 1996 Olympic relay torch.

Professor Durbetaki was awarded two National Science Foundation Science Faculty Fellowships and received the Monie A. Ferst Memorial Sigma Xi Research Award as Master's Degree Graduate Student Thesis Advisor. Selected as one of the Top Ten Profs at Georgia Tech. Professor Durbetaki was also awarded the ASEE / AT&T Foundation Award for excellence in instruction of engineering students and the SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award. He was named Engineer of the Year in Education by Metro Atlanta Engineers' Week. Received the Dedicated Service Award from ASME, the Distinguished Alumni Award from MSU Mechanical Engineering and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Rochester Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He is Life Fellow of ASME (The American Society of Mechanical Engineers).

His affiliation with Michigan State University has been three-fold: (1) Doctoral Student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering (1960-1964), Instructor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering (1960-1964), and (3) Member of the Board of Visitors in Mechanical Engineering.

Monte FalcoffEngineering Arts 1986

Mr. Falcoff's is a principal and registered patent attorney at the law firm of Harness Dickey in Troy, Michigan. Mr. Falcoff’s primary areas of practice include intellectual property portfolio management, client counseling and opinion preparation, preparation and prosecution of patent applications, trademark prosecution, intellectual property litigation, and licensing. He is also an adjunct professor of various IP law classes at the Michigan State University College of Law.

Prior to joining Harness Dickey, Mr. Falcoff was a manager of marketing program development with United Technologies Automotive, where he was responsible for developing, selling, and licensing new technology. As part of this job, he was the patent and trademark coordinator for the business unit. Furthermore, he worked as a systems engineer at United Technologies Automotive for the modular headliner programs from which he had ten U.S. Patents issued. Mr. Falcoff also worked at Modern Engineering Service Co. as a senior project engineer, prior to employment at United Technologies Automotive.

Mr. Falcoff graduated from MSU with an Applied Engineering Sciences (fka Engineering Arts) degree in 1986. Additionally, he was in the Spartan Marching Band for five years and earned his varsity letter on the Fencing team, as a student. Mr. Falcoff has continuously had MSU season football tickets since he graduated and proudly attended the Rose Bowl in 2014.

Brian Green Mechanical Engineering 1999

Brian R. Green is a 1999 graduate of the Mechanical Engineering program at Michigan State University and holds a Masters and Doctorate degree from The Ohio State University. He has been working at GE Aviation – Aircraft Engines in Cincinnati, Ohio for 15 years in various positions ranging from aeromechanics to mechanical design to filed service and currently is back in aeromechanics working on advanced engine concepts for the next generation of aviation gas turbine engines. Brian is still actively engaged in recruiting efforts with Michigan State University loves the opportunity to return to East Lansing where is engineering career started.

Fritz KlinglerCivil Engineering1988

Fritz Klingler graduated from Michigan State University, with B.S. and M.S. Degrees in Civil Engineering, and an emphasis in Geotechnical Engineering. Mr. Klingler has authored numerous technical papers and articles on deep foundations, tunnels, and shafts, and was recently named "Engineer of the Year" by the Michigan Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). He is a Past President of the Detroit Metro Chapter of Michigan Society of Professional Engineers (MSPE), past Vice President of MSPE in charge of the Southeastern Region, past President of the Southeastern Michigan Branch of ASCE, past chairman of the Michigan State University College of Civil Engineering Professional Advisory Board, and current President of the Professional Engineers in Private Practice (PEPP) division of MSPE. He is also currently chairman of the fundraising effort to establish a permanent scholarship endowment for the MSU chapter of Chi Epsilon, the Civil Engineering Honor Society. Mr. Klingler lives in Troy, Michigan, and is married with four children in elementary school.

Matthew PlyMechanical Engineering 1997

Matthew Ply has worked for General Motors since graduating BSME in 1997. He has held positions in Vehicle Engineering, Noise and Vibration, Product Development and Cost Reduction. After launching the 2010 Cadillac SRX, he started his current assignment as Exterior Lighting Quality Lead. He is also the Product Development Functional Recruiting Leader for Michigan State University. He received his MBA from the University of Michigan in 2001. Mr. Ply is also a registered DFSS Green Belt and has a patent registered with the US Patent office.Contact information: matthew.m.ply@gm.com(586) 907-0914 (work cell)

Betty ShanahanElectrical Engineering 1978

Betty Shanahan was the executive director and CEO for the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) from 2002 through 2013. Prior to joining SWE, Betty spent 24 years in development, engineering management, and marketing for the electronics and software industries.

Betty has earned a B.S. in electrical engineering from Michigan State University, a Master of Software Engineering from the Wang Institute of Graduate Studies, and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Betty has served in several forums that advance diversity in the STEM pipeline and engineering profession, including the National Academy of Engineering Project on Changing the Conversation, National Academy of Engineering Workshop on Life-Long Learning, and the Clemson University College of Engineering and Science Advisory Board. In 2012 she was elected president of the Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives. Betty was the first woman to receive the Claud R. Erickson Distinguished Alumni Award from MSU’s College of Engineering. In 2012 she was named one of STEMConnector’s “100 Women Leaders in STEM and in 2013 she received an honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Connecticut.

Betty is a fellow life member of SWE, a Certified Association Executive, and a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the Association Forum, and the American Society of Association Executives. She is married to fellow Spartan Engineer Bob Nuber.

Term Ending in 2018

Donnie Haye Applied Engineering Sciences 1981

Donnie Haye is the Vice President, Client and Channel Enablement, Integrated Supply Chain for IBM. She held many leadership positions in finance, operations, and marketing in multiple IBM businesses, throughout the US, Europe and Asia. She has received numerous IBM awards and has a patent pending.

Donnie also received an MBA in 1983 from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University, with concentrations in policy, finance and marketing. She was an FC Austin Scholar while at Northwestern.

Gary HockstraChemical Engineering 1980

Gary Hockstra is the Vice President of Operations, Supply Chain and Discrete Manufacturing, and is a member of the Operations Leadership Team.

Hockstra joined Dow in 1980 in Midland working in R&D in several different areas. In 1983 he moved to pharmaceuticals manufacturing, and in early 1985 moved to Italy to design, build, and run a new pharmaceutical plant on the Garessio site. He returned to Midland in 1989 working in the Pharmaceutical Tech Center. He moved to Global Process Control in 1991 as the Project Manager of the Dow Mod 5 Operator Work Station Project. In 1993 he moved to Terneuzen, The Netherlands, where he worked in the Styron/Tyril plant consolidating the control rooms with the Operator Station system. In 1994 he moved to LHC 1 as the cracker production leader. In 1996 he moved to Texas as the LHC Technology Leader. In 2000 he assumed the additional responsibility of LHC R&D director. Late 2002 he was named Manufacturing Director of Engineering Plastics, and in 2004 he assumed the role of Manufacturing Director for Engineering Polymers (Engineering Plastics plus Polystyrene). In 2007 he was named Vice President and Site Director - Texas Operations in Freeport. Hockstra was named Vice President of Manufacturing and Engineering for Advanced Materials in September 2011. In October 2012 Hockstra was named Vice President of Operations, Supply Chain, and Discrete Manufacturing.

Gary is married to Ruth. They have two children, Nicholas and Cristina.

Ivan J. LaHaieElectrical Engineering 1976

Ivan J. LaHaie received his BS degree in electrical engineering from Michigan State University in 1976, and his MS and Ph. D. degrees, also in electrical engineering, from the University of Michigan in 1977 and 1981, respectively. He joined the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM) in 1980 and worked there for 30 years during its various incarnations as ERIM International, Veridian Systems, and General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems. He joined Integrity Applications Incorporated (IAI) in 2010, where he is currently a Principal Scientist in the Sensors and Analysis Sector. Dr. LaHaie’s interests lie in the application of electromagnetics, inverse scattering, and signal processing techniques to problems in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems and phenomenology, unconventional RF and optical imaging, and radar cross-section (RCS) modeling, analysis, and measurements. He is a nationally-recognized authority in the development of techniques for RCS measurement error mitigation, near field-to-far field RCS transformations, LO signature diagnostics, and RCS uncertainty analysis, and has participated in several government advisory and technical evaluation panels.

Dr. LaHaie is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Antenna Measurement Techniques Association (AMTA) and a member of the Optical Society of America (OSA). In 1991, he received the IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society Radar Systems Panel Award for his contributions to synthetic aperture systems and electromagnetic modeling. The award is given annually to the nation’s leading radar engineer under 40 years of age. He received the AMTA Distinguished Achievement award in 2004 for his pioneering work in the development of automated radar signature imaging technology, radar cross-section (RCS) measurement technology and standards, the design and evaluation of electromagnetic interference and error source mitigation techniques, and for his contributions to the field of radar signature target support interaction modeling.

Keith Landau is the Chief Product Officer for GENBAND, and is responsible for the Product vision and execution for the company. The functions include Product Management (business), Technology / R&D (product development) and corporate quality.